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Anja Rubik Turns Designer

25 February 2013

Ella Alexander

ANJA
RUBIK has designed a capsule footwear line for Giuseppe
Zanotti. The collections of five styles are inspired by two of
the model's music heroes - Debbie Harry and David
Bowie - and will launch in stores and online in early
March. Prices range between €550 (£480) and
€1,400 (£1,200).

"It's a bit glam-punk," Rubik told us. "I love that period
in music. I'm a huge Bowie fan. People have said I look like him,
which is honestly the biggest compliment. I think it's the high
cheekbones. His style was so bold and brave and his music so
honest. The whole collection is very personal to me, there is a
real story behind it."

Zanotti and Rubik met when the Polish beauty was 16 through
mutual friends. The model appeared in one of his campaigns, but
they didn't meet again for another six years when they worked
together for a second time. She has since starred in numerous
adverts for the Italian brand.

"We're very good friends," she said. "We'll always have lunch
together when I'm in Milan and I'll always tell him what I like and
don't like about his shoes. One day I said to him: 'Maybe you
should do something a bit more punk.' And he said, 'Why don't you
design it for me?' It happened very organically."

Rubik travelled down to the designer's Italian factory to make
sure she was fully involved in the whole process - although she
wasn't prepared for the cultural differences between Italy and her
hometown, New York.

"That Italian way of working - it took a while to get used to,"
she said. "I'd arrive and everyone would say, 'come on we're going
out for lunch.' Then we'd return a few hours later. There was a lot
of wine and food. It was how life should be - the perfect balance
of work and play."

That's not to say that the road to design success was an easy
one: "I was trying to show the factory-workers what I was going for
and I found this piece of old suede on the floor and started
cutting shapes in it to give them a better idea," she recalled.
"Then Giuseppe walked in and asked: 'Has anyone seeing my favourite
glasses cloth?' I was so embarrassed."

Rubik isn't ruling out a possible second collaboration, having
enjoyed her first design project so much.

"I'm just going to take it slowly," she said. "If I did it
again, I might create a collection at more accessible price points.
I tried my best with this though and I'm happy with the results. I
just hope that everyone else does too."